Singer and One Million Star (超級星光大道) fan favorite Aska Yang (楊宗緯) pitched a fit on his blog after a reporter aska’ed him one too many questions about his relationship with a young male friend.
According to Yang’s blog, he was innocently out shopping in the East District (東區) when he “stepped in some dog shit,” ie, paparazzi. Prior to that, Yang had a fruitful day snapping up a sea-green OriginalFake hoodie, black corduroy shorts and a fancy cellphone strap. He was walking with two young friends of his, a man and woman, when all of the sudden a frenzy of flashbulbs started going off “like lightening from the sky.” Yang wrote that he would not hesitate to seek legal action should such a mishap occur again, adding ruefully, “I think I might have to return those shorts.”
(Pop Stop thinks he should also look into returning the entire outfit he had on that day: a shiny black bomber jacket and baggy cargo shorts.)
But according to our sister paper the Liberty Times’ (自由時報) version of the events, Yang threw a hissy fit when a reporter told him “readers are curious … you seem to be very close to that young man,” referring to Yang’s male friend. One can only imagine that this question was asked with a smarmy nudge and saucy lifting of the eyebrows, for the impromptu interview culminated in Yang screaming, “I will not answer your questions, all reporters do is write dirt!” Who can blame Yang for his outburst? But venting about it on his blog is a different matter. If Yang was famously too old to compete on One Million Star, then he is also way too old to be peevish.
Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) was happier to have reporters follow her on a recent shopping spree in New York City, where the songstress dropped northwards of NT$10,000 — on sugar-free candy. Tsai, visiting the Big Apple to film a commercial, dragged her entourage up and down and around 5th Avenue before she finally located her favorite specialty purveyor of the low-cal sweets. Once she found the store, the whippet-thin celeb gleefully posed for photos hoisting aloft a giant sack of gummi bears, the manic gleam in her eyes bearing testimony to years of calorie-deprivation.
United Daily News (聯合報) reported that this was the first time in years Tsai had eaten chocolate. She spent the rest of her trip abroad continuously stuffing her face from an ever-present sack of candy, the vernacular daily said. Having exhausted her supply, Tsai made sure to stop by the store again for refills before leaving New York. “Paris and London both have this kind of sugar-free candy,” she told United Daily, “But you can’t find gummi bears in London.”
Cecilia Chung (張柏芝) may need to take a page from Tsai’s book about calorie management. The Hong Kong actress and pop singer, whose friends have denied recent reports that she had suffered a miscarriage, was spotted by Sing Tao Daily News (星島日報) purchasing five cups of noodles, three cans of some unspecified foodstuff, two boxes of chocolates and three big bags of potato chips. Sing Tao Daily gallantly commented on her behind and tummy, which were both noticeably more voluptuous than they had been when they made their infamous appearance in the nude portraiture of renowned photographer (and erstwhile pop star) Edison Chen (陳冠希).
When asked if she were knocked up or just fat, Chung, shockingly enough, refused to answer. So Sing Tao Daily ran off and found a doctor who, based on grainy paparazzi photos, was willing to proclaim that there is a “good chance” Chung is indeed pregnant.
But Pop Stop thinks there is a much more plausible explanation. Chung was also recently spotted buying some computer games for husband Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒), who has apparently become something of a gaming geek recently. After the Chen sex photo scandal, the media frenzy over the possible miscarriage and the continuing pregnancy speculation, Chung and Tse may have decided to save their sanity by adopting the simple, quiet life of a couple of zhai nan (宅男), or homebodies.
If that is the case, Chung and Tse might want to look at the sad case of Chang Chen-huan (張振寰) before they become too reclusive. Chang was a sought-after television actor in Taiwan before alcoholism, mental illness and accusations of spousal abuse sent his career plummeting and relegated him to working menial jobs, including his latest one at a restaurant. Apple Daily (蘋果日報) reports that Chang’s lateness and odd behavior almost got him fired, but his boss was too softhearted in the end. Chang said he’d talk to her “about how I can improve.”
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
RSS